1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical structural body having a structure which can be applied to a polarizer, a diffraction grading, a reflector, a filter, an optical attenuator or the like to be used in the field of optical communication and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of structures have conventionally been proposed for a polarizer to be used in an optical isolator or the like, a diffraction grating to be used as an optical lens, and a reflector, a filter or an optical attenuator to be used in a spectroscope or the like.
To produce such conventional optical elements, however, vacuum evaporation, sputtering, lithography or the like has been used for forming a fine periodic structure in the submicron order suited for integration of an optical circuit. This disadvantageously not only complicates the production steps, but also makes the equipment arrangement in a large scale, resulting in increase in cost of the optical elements.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an excellent optical structural body, its manufacturing method and an optical element in which production can be conducted in an easy and quick manner, in which a fine periodic structure in the submicron order can readily be achieved, in which the direction, width and/or pitches of the fine periodic structure can optionally be controlled, and in which a three-dimensional periodic structure can be obtained.